Rail-joint



(No Model.)

0. FISHER.

RAIL JOINT.

N0. 360,673. Patented Apr. 5, 1887.

WITNESS s= 4/ 5 i UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CLARK FISHER, OF TRENTON, NEW JERSEY.

RAIL-JOINT.

, SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No; 360,673, dated April5, 1887.

Application filed May 17, 1886. Serial h'o. 202,415. (No model.) i

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CLARK FISHER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Trenton, in the County of Mercer, and State of New Jersey,have invented certain Improvements in Rail.loints,of which the followingisaspecification. This invention is an in. provemen t upon that setforth-in United States Letters Patent No. 19,555, granted March 9, 1858,to M. Fisher of Trenton, aforesaid, and known as the Fisher Joint, andit relates to the class of devices known asjoints or splices for thereception of the contiguous ends of railroad rails and commonly calledrail joints, the same being devices for connecting the rails and forsupporting them both from beneath and laterally.

The Fisher rail joint referred to consists of a sole-piece or chairprovided with longitudinall y extending vertical flanges upon each sideof its upper surface, against which flanges and upon theupper surface ofwhich sole piece clamps or fore-locks to grasp the bases of the railends rest, the said fore-locks being held down upon the rail bases andsole piece by one or more bolts passing through the whole, as by areference to the Letters Patent referred to will more fully appear.

Formerly the sole pieces of these joints were made as a fiat or levelplateof uniform thickness, and in practical use it "was found that,under their passage, theopressure or weight of the wheels of trains camefirst upon one end of the sole-piece, the resulting tendency being tospring the other end and thereby loosen the fastenings.

To obviate the foregoing disadvantage I devised the rail joint describedand claimed in United States Letters Patent No. 214,032, granted to meApril 8th, 1879, in which the invention consisted in giving to the chairor sole piece of the Fisher joint a slightly arched or curved form inthe direction of its length, the convexity being on top, so that thebutts or meeting extremities of the rails came together and restedupon'the highest part of the archedsole'piece, with the result that theweight passing over the joint was from first to last thrown upon thecenter thereof, thereby distributing the pressure evenly throughout thejoint and to the ties or other bearings upon which the ends of thesole-piece rested.

roll outwards, because the form of thisarehed beam on its under surfaceis similar to and parallel with its upper curved surface, and thereforeit cannot bear evenly upon the plane surfaces of the ties. The cent-ralpart of said beam or sole piece, moreover, which should,

be the strongest since it acts as a bridge from one tie to another, is,when not thicker than the parts which rest on the ties, weak ened by theholes in it necessary for the vertieal bolts.

The object of my present invention is to obtain in a fiat or level chairor sole-piece the advantages incident to a chair, sole-piece, or beamarched in the direction of its length and adapted to support'the railsbeneath their intersections upon its highest portion and also toincrease the strength of the central part of the beam, and theseobjeetsI obtain by superimposing upon thecentral portion of the solepiece orchair of the Fisher rail joint between the flanges thereof a fillingblock or liner upon which the meeting extremities of the rails rest andupon which the forclocks are superimposed, all substantially ashereinafter set forth.

The rail joint embodying my invention is represented in the accompanyingdrawings and described in this specification, theparticular subjectmatter claimed as novel being hereinafter definitely specified;

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a view in perspective of a sole piece or chair embodying myimprovements.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal side elevation of a railjoint embodying myimprovements, section being supposed in the plane of the nearest arm ofa connecting U-bolt.

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the rail joint of figure 2, and figure 4a transverse sectional elevation in the plane of the dotted line as w offigure 3, the rail not being insection. 4

Similar letters of reference, indicate corresponding parts. i

In the drawings, A is the sole-piecc or chair, and a the laterallyextending vertical flanges of the said chair; B is the central fillingblock rod or liner, which may be either cast, 01' foi'ged, or rolledintegral with the sole-piece, or be applied as a separate memberthereto. It is preferably broad enough to fill ,the space betherebysecuring 'to the joint as an entirety the advantage of a. level andextended bearing uponeach of the ties on' which its extremities rest,and also by virtue-of the liner 5. thickened bearingpart, so to speak,for'the rail ends,whioh increases its strength and prevents the railsfrom resting on other than the central portion of the beam.- More thanone U- bolt may, if desired, be employed, or separate and independentsingle bolts may be used.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In combination with a sole-piece or cha r, a liner or filling blocksuperimposed upon its carrying surface, rail ends resting upon saidliner,fore-locks, and a connecting bolt or bolts, substantially as andfor the purposes set forth.

2. In combination with a sole piece or cha r, a liner or filling blooksuperimposed upon 1ts upper or carrying surface, rail ends resting upon,attached to, and solely supported by said liner, foreloeks, and aconnecting bolt or bolts, substantially as and for the purposes setforth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto s1 gned my name this 13th day ofMay, A. 1)., 1886.

(JLARK nisnnn. In the presence of EDW. T. GREEN,

EDWARD W. Evnns.

